Entries in fashion misogyny
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Denmark’s fashion industry is joining the debate over ‘skinny models’, but with an approach that isn’t punitative and not driven exclusively around standards of BMI (body mass index), as is under consideration in France.

Writing for the New York Times, Vanessa Friedman is more enthusiastic about the Danish approach, which will focus on peer pressure and not what Friedman calls a ‘Big Brother’ approach to managing eating issues, which are notoriously complex and not the result exclusively of reading fashion magazines.Her point is scientifically correct.

However, Friedman never even acknowledges that a problem exists, as if the fashion industry has somehow accidentally downsized models from a size 4-6 in the days of the great supermodels to size 0 and smaller … just because … well, who knows, it just happened drip by drip, year by year.

While there are no penalties for non-compliance, only companies that sign the charter can take part in Copenhagen Fashion Week. Warnings of not honoring the charter would eventually result, not only in exclusion from Copenhagen Fashion Week, but being part of an official online blacklist.

Karlie Color and Co-op Riche

Former Victoria’s Secret Angel Karlie Kloss appears in the pink in today’s new release of an ad for L’Oreal Paris. But Kloss should be wearing green, with news that she will make back more than twice her investment price on a two-bedroom West Village apartment that she purchased in 2012.

The board at her Charles Street, 12-unit building has agreed to sell the whole structure to an investor who will likely raze it. Kloss paid $1.98 million for her Manhattan home and will more than double her money, reports Manhattan real estate blogs. Total price for the 12 apartments is $59 million.

Diet Soda Sales Plummet

Financial blog Motley Fool reports that for the 10th year in a row, soda consumption declined in the US. Total sales of ‘fizzy’ beverages fell 0.9% in 2014, with Coca-Cola shipments sliding by 1.1% and Pepsi losing 1.4%.

The continued drop is not a surprise as Americans become increasingly health conscious and restrict their intake of carbonated soft drinks and other products seen as empty calories. But while soda sales are down across the board, the biggest impact from changing consumer tastes is on diet sodas. Diet Coke sales fell 6.6% last year after tumbling 15% over the two years prior. In the process, it slipped from No. 2 in U.S. market share to No. 3 behind Pepsi. Diet Pepsi sales, meanwhile, were down 5.2% last year.

Financial analysts report that Coke and Pepsi consider the problem to be aspartame and its after taste. Scientists are focusing on stevia as the solution.

The abandonment of diet sodas is a sign that consumers are not just concerned about calories. There is a growing wholesale movement in the country against processed foods — consumers are demanding greater transparency about the products they put in their bodies. While the stevia plant is natural, the idea of drinking something produced in a lab might be off-putting to consumers.

What no soda company wants to address is the brain chemistry research around diet drinks. Just last week a new study of adults over 65 concluded that drinking diet soda caused people to gain more belly fat — the most harmful location for fat — than drinking regular soda. TIMEwrites:

The kind that pads the abs from the inside, called visceral fat, is associated with increased cardiovascular disease, inflammation and Type 2 diabetes.

As The Atlanticwrote last fall, and AOC has written on numerous occasions, several studies around diet sodas have ‘suggested that eating/drinking these nutritive sweeteners actually leads to weight gain. That has to do with satiety signals, effects on insulin levels, changes in the body’s fluid balances, and other not-immediately-apparent downstream factors.

The evidence that diet sodas may well promote weight gain has roots as far back as the 1970s when a study of 31,940 women found that saccarin users gained more weight than non-users. An even larger study of 78,694 women in the 1980s found that users of artificial sweeteners were more likely to gain weight.

Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld leads the demand for ultra-thin models in France.French lawmakers are continuing debate today on a ban on fashion models with BMIs lower than a to be determined number. Reuters reports the proposed legal BMI to be 18, or about 121 lbs for a model 5’9” tall. (Note, the 5’7” 121 lbs BMI claim is some articles in incorrect.)Two amendment initiatives are supported by French health minister MarisolTouraine.

One amendment prevents model agencies from having girls on their roster with the medically-deemed unhealthy BMI lower than 18. Agencies would be required to provide a medical certificate for each model or face up to six months in prison and a 75,000 euro fine for anyone ‘glorifying anorexia’.

The second amendment outlaws pro-anorexia websites, making it illegal to promote excessive thinness. France estimates that about 40,000 citizens suffer from anorexia, most of them teen girls.

‘The image the fashion industry gives, where women have to be pathologically thin to be beautiful … has a strong social impact, says Socialist politician Olivier Veran, a neurologist at the University Hospital of Grenoble, who is proposing the amendments.

France’s modelling agencies argue that they are in global competition and will suffer unless a Europe-wide approach on model’s health is embraced. Gerald Marie, former European head of Elite Agency says: ‘There is anorexia and there are girls who are … very thin naturally and you can make them eat all day (and) they would stay thin.’ Marie argues that one needs to define anorexia as a psychological disorder.

France would not be the first country to focus on models in their fashion industries. Italy, Spain and Israel adopted laws against too-thin models on catwalks or in advertising campaigns in 2013. Brazil is now considering banning underage and too thin models. Many in the fashion world see France as the central catalyst in the demand for size 0 and less models.

We assume that Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld finds the BMI proposal to be utter stupidity. After losing 42 kilos of weight (about 92 pounds), Lagerfeld adopted the stance that one cannot possibly be too thin in the world of fashion, stating emphatically that ‘no one wants to see curvy women on the catwalk.’

Lagerfeld inflamed women previously, arguing ‘It’s the fat women sitting in front of televisions with their crisps who say slim models are hideous.’

British writer Imogen Edwards-Jones wrote of models’ excessive laxative use in her book ‘Fashion Babylon’. In 2007, Isabelle Caro, an anorexic 28-year-old model died after posing for a campaign to raise awareness around anorexia. Ex Vogue Australia editor Kirstie Clements published ‘The Vogue Factor’ in 2013, arguing that the fashion industry encouraged models to eat tissues and cotton balls, in order to stay thin enough to get work.

Fashion directors, editors, photographers and designers share complicity in the pursuit of extremely thin models. British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman explained to The Telegraph in March 2014 that ‘nobody really wants a ‘real person’ on the cover of Vogue. Shulman continued her interview saying she’s bored with the discussions about why models are thin.

‘I think Vogue is a magazine that’s about fantasy to some extent and dreams, and an escape from real life.’

Shulman is long on the record arguing that designers should cut bigger sample sizes and use bigger girls on the catwalk. Her view is mostly one of throwing her hands up in the air. Pressed to describe what her readers like best, the fashion leader responded someone ‘quite conventional, probably smiling, in a pretty dress; somebody looking very lovely. The most perfect girl next door.’

Takedown Of The Supermodels

What the fashion industry has never explained is the reasons why the world’s top models in the late 80s and into the 90s were size 4-6. AOC has written about the topic of size 0 models for years. The downsizing of supermodels like Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer and all the glory girls to today’s size 0 and smaller has never explained.

The closest the industry comes is to acknowledging that their embrace of Kate Moss’ ‘heroin chic’ look, one popularized in the mid-1990s, did make vibrant, healthy-looking girls like Crawford and company suddenly undesirable.

In May 1997 President Bill Clinton accused the US fashion industry of portraying heroin use, coupled with emaciated models, androgynous looks and dark circles under their eyes, as glamorous to sell clothes

The glorification of heroin is not creative, it’s destructive,” Clinton said. “It’s not beautiful, it is ugly. And this is not about art, it’s about life and death.

Clinton’s remarks were prompted by the recent death ofDavideSorrenti, brother of Mario, who died of a heroin overdose at the age of 20. In a note of irony, Mario photographed Kate Moss, his girlfriend at the time, in the Calvin Klein ‘heroin chic’ Obsession campaign.

Clinton’s comments were not the first time he has leveled criticism at the fashion industry or reached into the world of popular culture for a political issue, wrote the LA Times. At a campaign fund-raising dinner in 1995, for instance, he complained that Calvin Klein ads depicting youthful models in provocative poses were ‘outrageous.’

Amy Spindler wrote of Sorrenti’s death and the fashion industry’s love of ‘heroin-chic’ looks:

After hosting just seven episodes of Fashion Police, Kathy Griffin has walked — and for all the right reasons. Griffin announced Thursday night on Twitter that the cruel jokes about women management expected her to make were in direct conflict with her values as a prominent feminist and equal rights activist. Griffin wrote:

I thought that I could bring my brand of humor to ‘Fashion Police’ so that beautiful people in beautiful dresses could be teased when appropriate. My brand of humor, while unrepentant and unafraid, is all about context. There is plenty to make fun of in pop culture without bringing people’s bodies into it … I do not want to use my comedy to contribute to a culture of unattainable perfectionism and intolerance towards difference.’

Scandal star Kerry Washington looks ravishing on the cover of Marie Claire’s April issue. The cover shot contrasts significantly from InStyle’s Jan Welter’s cover of the star, an image that prompted outcries of skin whitening, which InStyle denied. The magazine issued these comments:

‘We have heard from those who have spoken out about our newsstand cover photograph, concerned that Kerry’s skin tone was lightened,’ InStyle said.

‘While we did not digitally lighten Kerry’s skin tone, our cover lighting has likely contributed to this concern.’

‘We understand that this has resulted in disappointment and hurt. We are listening, and the feedback has been valuable. We are committed to ensuring that this experience has a positive influence on the ways in which we present all women going forward.’

Besides the lighting or skin-whitening issue, we note a significant different in the amount of Photoshop used on the two covers. Kerry is much more ‘real’ looking on the Marie Claire cover.

Nidhi says that being ‘dusky’ is not a drawback for getting jobs in the Indian fashion industry, that she has gotten assignments because of her skin colour. However, she is limited in the TV commercial and music video world, because they prefer a lighter skin tone, in Nidhi’s own words.

Rita Ora looks anything but confident, as she makes her way towards the red carpet for the launch of The Voice UK. Ora is the newest judge, replacing Australian singer Kylie Minogue. Rita chose to wear a jaw-dropping, cobalt blue dress from DSquared2’s Pre-Fall 2015 collection.

It’s not often that real people of every size have the opportunity to compare a dress on the fashion industry’s preferred model body type of super slender with minimal breasts and hips, and then worn by a woman like Rita Ora, who — for better or worse — has both.

Anne of Carversville has written about this topic of on and off the runway since 2007, primarily as a reflection on fashion’s misogyny against breasts and hips. Over the last two decades, average model size has shrunk from size 4-6 US to size 0-2. There have always been exceptions, of course. Yet, any 80s supermodel from Cindy Crawford to Naomi Campbell will tell you that their 1990s bodies — achievable by 25% of American women with exercise and diet — are considered gross by today’s standards.

Research confirms that only 8% of American women can today achieve a runway figure. I doubt that the Brits are far behind us in that reality. French women and Italians, too, are more blessed — if the look is your personal preference.

Positive aging powerhouse Christie Brinkley soaks up the rays on the Caribbean islands of Turks and Caicos, drifting in a shower of sunlight and unpolluted water.

The vast majority of AOC readers don’t have a Christie Brinkley body at any age, but if seeing is believing in the power of potential, then Christie inspires us to connect with sun, spirit and swimming at every age.

Swimming and water activities are fantastic as low-impact exercise for women of every age.

The debate over fashion’s obsession with ultra-thin models has continued unabated since then, with little turning away from the down-sizing of the healthy body, original ’90s supermodels like Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell. Most of those size 4-6 supermodels are considered plus-size models today, compared to our typically androgynous-looking size 0 models.

Brazil’s Star Models You Are Not A Sketch Campaign

Brazilian modeling agency Star Models has recently launched an innovative eating disorder awareness campaign featuring your typical fashion sketch on the left, and models photoshopped to look like the illustration on the right. The impossibly long-legged fashionista on the left has been with us for decades. Photoshopping a real model to look like a fashion illustration is a more recent phenomenon.

Fashion insiders tell women that neither image should have any impact on our psyches. Any intelligent woman isn’t impacted by these visions of the ideal female body because we know they are only ads. The same argument applies to Barbie. Are people seriously suggesting that Barbie be banned.

A nameless reader called me a “retard” this morning for my arguments about the desexualization of women in the fashion industry’s post-90s supermodel world. I sense she’s a gal pal of that Sophia Victoria’s Secret woman — what’s her last name — who said Kate Upton would go nowhere.

Talk about having a big cheese omelette all over your face!!! Please note that — unlike dear Hannah — I didn’t attach any hurtful adjectives to my descriptions of that haute high priestess of style, but … just saying’ …

The truth is that I don’t feel so badly being called a ‘retard’ after taking in the totality of shock jock Howard Stern’s apology to ‘Girls’ actress Lena Dunham, captured here by Gregory Harris for Interview Magazine’s February issue. Elin Svahn styles the Golden Globes winner in modern classics — including her own skin.

E writes that last week Stern called Dunham “a little fat girl who kind of looks like Jonah Hill” before going on to detail all his other grievances.

“I learned that this little fat chick writes the show and directs the show, and that makes sense to me because she’s such a camera hog that the other characters barely are on,” Stern complained.

“I felt bad,” he said on the air, calling the next-day take on his comments a “hatchet job,” “because I really do love the show Girls and enjoy it, and I admire the girl who writes it…So I said to [producer Gary Dell’Abate], would you please contact Lena Dunham and please tell her that I would like to explain myself to her on the air and apologize to her because I do love the show and it makes me feel bad that she is getting the impression that I somehow think she’s just a talentless little fat chick.”

Perhaps potty-mouth Hannah will decide to read all my writing and come to the majority conclusion that AOC is spot on in calling the rise of the size 0 model syndrome for exactly what it is: fashion misogyny.

This industry is too locked up in its own self-obsession to ask itself why it feels the need to eliminate curves of any kind in its models, making a universal body that looks like men’s — except for the you know what — the 21st century beauty standard for men and women.

Exactly what’s liberating about this 21st century standard of beauty compromise? I call it saying women will look like boys — or off with our heads for raising our hands to speak in protest!! Also, dear Hannah, I heard from a most prominent designer’s PR agent a couple years ago on this topic. He threatened to sue me if I didn’t retract a statement — which only confirms that I’m getting under the skin of a few people across the pond, you included.

Good. It’s about time American women stopped lying around like little lap dogs when the subject is taking control of our bodies — which I agree we NEED to do on a political, religious and fashion industry, let’s stoping hating our bodies and get healthy front.

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